Caged Monkeys

I hate to throw around political buzzwords during an election year, but I am somewhat of an elitist. I believe in the science and profession of teaching. Reading the article on “mind and brain” I could not help but feel a little underwhelmed. Neuroscientists using techniques and measures that they are only starting to prefect suddenly presume to tell teachers how people learn. I find that presumptuous, and a little silly. It is not that important research is not being done in the field of neuroscience, it is that much of this research is in its infant stage compared to the mature field of teaching and learning.
In many ways the relation between neuroscience and teaching is similar to the relationship between science and technology. When I was young I was taught that technology was the application of science. As I began my study of technology I soon learned that technology stood independent of science. That is while all technology is held by the bounds of science; one need not have an understanding of that science to create technology. For example, the inventor of the wheel most likely did not have a grasp of friction coefficients, yet still managed to create one of the greatest artifacts of technology in the history of mankind. Technology came first the science came later. This seems to be what is happening with much of the research presented in this chapter.
The authors highlight a research finding that states, “The fundamental organization of the brain and the mind depends on and benefits positively from experience.” I will let go for a moment that the research referenced used caged versus un-caged monkeys as its metric. (To my knowledge public schools stopped caging students sometime in the 1940’s.) Instead I will focus on the crux of the statement, which is that, the mind benefits positively from experience. If this sound familiar, it is most likely because it has been a tenant of education for over 60 years.
One of my favorite educators, John Dewey wrote extensively about experience. "I assume," he declared, "that amid all uncertainties there is one permanent frame of reference, namely, the organic connection between education and personal experience; or that the new philosophy of education [his own] is committed to some kind of empirical and experimental philosophy (Dewey, 1938)." His ideas came to being without an MRI or PET scan, however most of his work still rings true today.
Perhaps, that is the true power of the new research into mind and brain. While, educators have been perfecting effective instructional strategies for decades, resistance can still be strong to these half-century-old ideas. Legislatures and the public love the “hard science” that neurologist and brains scans provide. If research into the brain and mind can help bring about an understanding of pedagogy, it may be its greatest accomplishment.


Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York: Free Press.